Here are more questions and answers from inquiries to the National Newspaper Association Postal Hotline in recent weeks.

Q: How does the Post Office look at obits on a Postal Report from our papers? We have both paid obits and basic death notices with only a surcharge, so how does the post office know the difference as they audit?

Q: My county commissioners court might be stepping over the line in personnel discussions held behind closed doors in executive sessions. What is the Texas Open Meetings Act prohibition on closed-session discussions of classes of employees?

As journalists, we are typically reluctant to write about ourselves, or to inject ourselves into a story we are reporting. We have reached this moment in history, though, in which the news we report, and the newspapers we publish, have become the story—a story with dire implications for journalism’s future, the First Amendment that protects it, and the life of our democracy which relies on it.

(ROCKPORT-FULTON, TX) – A book chronicling what happened when Hurricane Harvey first hit the shores of Aransas County, through the storm's first anniversary, has been released by Mike Probst, editor and publisher of The Rockport Pilot, Aransas County's semi-weekly newspaper.

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Aug. 2 reduction of tariffs imposed earlier this year on Canadian newsprint won't relieve the burden on newspapers, industry officials say.

PORTLAND, Oregon – Small, rural newspapers can win open-records battles with state agencies and beat larger news outlets at covering big stories in their communities, says a journalist who spent most of his career at a metropolitan daily but has returned to the business of publishing a rural weekly.

Q: If I file a public information request for a copy of a contract from a local governmental body, and they deny my request and then seek a Texas Attorney General opinion as to the validity of their denial, would the local governmental body have to provide a copy of the contract to the Attorney General as part of the process?
 A: Let’s check the Texas Attorney General’s 2018 Public Information Handbook, Section VI, titled, “Attorney General Determines Whether Information Is Subject to an Exception.” 

It has been clear for some time that public information law is under siege in the state of Texas.
Texas attorney general spokesman Marc Rylander’s swaggering performance at an open government seminar held by the AG’s office earlier this year — during which he encouraged public officials to slow-walk public information requests — offered ample evidence of its endangered status. 
Further verification followed this week, when the Texas Supreme Court denied a motion for re-hearing, filed by the Fort Bend Herald in a 2014 case against Fort Bend County officials.

High-profile deaths always grab headlines. Suicides especially draw attention as witnessed by the deaths of renowned fashion designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain. The news was carried in big and small newspapers alike.

By Jim Pumarlo, www.pumarlo.com

There is still time for members of Congress to urge the International Trade Commission to reverse the Commerce Department’s preliminary tariffs on newsprint imported from Canada.
The comment period closes Aug. 20, and the ITC will vote on the case Aug. 28.